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Attractive professional cyclists are faster

A study by the University of Zurich demonstrates a link between attractiveness and endurance performance, showing that successful Tour de France cyclists are more attractive. This preference for faster riders is particularly strong in women who are not using a hormonal contraceptive.

In a range
of species, females show clear preferences when it comes to the choice of their
partner – they decide on the basis of external features like antler size or
plumage coloration whether a male will be a good father to her offspring, or
whether he will provide them with good genes. Erik Postma, an evolutionary
biologist at the University of Zurich, has now demonstrated that humans have
similar skills. The faces of riders that performed better during the Tour de
France were deemed more attractive, showing that we can assess a men’s
endurance performance by looking at his face.

During the
course of human evolution, hunting success and, by extension, feeding a family
depended on the ability to chase game for hours and days. “That’s why endurance
performance was a key evolutionary factor”, says Postma. Given the benefits a
physically fit partner would have provided, the researcher hypothesised that facial
attractiveness has evolved to signal, among others, endurance performance. If correct,
then women should find those men who perform well in terms of endurance particularly
attractive.

A comparison of 80 faces and cycling performance

To test
this hypothesis, the scientist found his ideal study subjects in the
participants of the 2012 Tour de France. “The Tour de France is the ultimate test
when it comes to endurance performance”, explains Postma. But although they are
all top fit, there are still considerable differences in their performance. More than 800 people, both women
and men, rated the portraits of 80 of the riders in terms of facial
attractiveness, without knowing how fast they really were. Subsequently, the evolutionary
biologist measured the performance of each rider on the basis of how long it
took them to complete the three time trials and the complete race. He then related
this to the attractiveness ratings each rider received and found that riders rated
as more attractive had also fared better during the race. “Attractive riders
are, therefore, faster”, summed up Postma.

Hormones play an important role

The link
between attractiveness and physical performance was strongest in women who were
not using a hormonal contraceptive. These women found the faces of men who did
well in the race to be particularly attractive. By contrast, the preference for
fast riders was less pronounced in both women on the pill and in men. “These
results are in line with other studies showing that hormones play an important
role when assessing potential sexual partners”, says Erik Postma from the
Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies.

Literature:

Erik Postma.
A relationship between attractiveness and performance in professional cyclists.
Biology Letters 20130966. February 5, 2014. Link to the publication:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0966